Tackling thinning hair

Tackling thinning hair - The West Australian

My sister, aged 83, is becoming quite bald; I don't mean her hair is thin, you can actually see her scalp. She has always looked after her skin and she is devastated. I am three years younger and certainly notice my hair is getting thinner and seems to have the same characteristics. Can you please recommend anything to an older woman whose hair is becoming very thin? * *Marian *

One of the reasons our hair thins or falls out is due to our iron levels, so the first thing I would suggest is to incorporate foods high in iron into your daily diet such as red meat, chicken, turkey, almonds, apricots, parsley, pine nuts and avocado. Other vitamin deficiencies that result in hair loss are B5, Lysine, inositol, biotin and silicon.

Begin with your diet. Once your body has the necessary ingredients to create hair, you might want to try regular scalp massage and heat treatments, which can be as simple as using a homemade treatment made up of 20 drops of rosemary essential oil and 10 drops of tea tree oil placed into 100ml of water or conditioner. Apply this to your hair, wrap your hair in plastic wrap and leave for 30 minutes. Do this every second night.

Be aware, though, that this will only make a difference if your hair follicles are still alive. Also, be patient and remember that your hair can take quite a while to recover from any stressful event and this includes nutritional loss, so make sure that you give yourself a few months before you judge whether you have had a good result or not.